SpaceX has launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet. The rocket blasted off from the southern tip of Texas on Friday, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites on a test flight extending halfway around the world.
SpaceX conducted another successful Starship launch test yesterday evening.
One vacuum engine went out on starship but the 3 sea level engines gimbaled to compensate and continue on to released all 22 starlink simulators, then land vertical in the ocean as if at the tower.
Yeah they also lost a sea level raptor on the booster towards the end of the accent. That’s honestly not a big deal, losing 1/28 engines at a point in the flight when they’re already probably throttling down a bunch.
But still, they’ve got some kinks to work out with the raptor 3.
That said, did you see how much faster it left the launch pad? They’ve seriously increased the thrust with these new raptors.
One vacuum engine went out on starship but the 3 sea level engines gimbaled to compensate and continue on to released all 22 starlink simulators, then land vertical in the ocean as if at the tower.
It blew an engine and crashed into the sea.
Fucking Jesus.
Also, they had to ‘glide’ in upper atmosphere for additional ~60s to hit the landing zone. I think they almost ran out of fuel due to engine failure
Yeah they also lost a sea level raptor on the booster towards the end of the accent. That’s honestly not a big deal, losing 1/28 engines at a point in the flight when they’re already probably throttling down a bunch.
But still, they’ve got some kinks to work out with the raptor 3.
That said, did you see how much faster it left the launch pad? They’ve seriously increased the thrust with these new raptors.
Scott Manley made video about this. Turns out with raptor 2 they were slow starting on purpose, while now they went full throttle immediately.
Yep, it looks like that new much larger downcomer may really be the thing to thank, now they can actually feed all those engines fast enough.